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Saffron was at one point married to Durran Haymer, a commander in the Union of Allied Planets government, under the alias "Yolanda." After a time she left Haymer, making it appear as if she had been kidnapped. Haymer, having found that one of his employees had disappeared at the same time, assumed that she had left with him, however his opinion changed when he found the dead body of his employee. Haymer, having been genuinely in love with Saffron, was distraught. Saffron possessed seductive abilities similar to those of members of the Companion's Guild, a guild of professional courtesans, though she uses those skills to con others.[2]

Some time afterward, Saffron was staying on a planet in the border planets, when the Firefly-class transport shipSerenity stopped on the world. Captained by Malcolm Reynolds, Reynolds and the crew engaged in festivities with the locals, during which a drunk Captain Reynolds unknowingly partook in a marriage ritual with Saffron, who was posing as a local. When he left the planet on board Serenity the next day, having forgotten the drinking ritual, he found Saffron on board the ship. Saffron was interrogated by Reynolds, who was unaware that he was participating in a marriage ceremony, and was only convinced when Derrial Book, a shepherd and crew member on Serenity, supported Saffron's tale. Saffron, however, was not accepted by Reynolds as a wife, who proceeded to seek ways to get rid of her.[1]

Posing as a submissive, eager-to-please young wife, Saffron attempted to make herself useful to Reynolds, making him food and cleaning his quarters. Despite this, Reynolds still did not accept her as his wife, and so Saffron was forced to use other means in her overall scheme to hand over Serenity and her crew to pirates. Finding Reynolds in his quarters, Saffron proceeded to attempt to tempt him into having sexual intercourse with her, under the pretext that, even if he left her on a different world thereafter, she would have been happy in her life. Reynolds was fooled by her act and kissed her. However, Saffron had applied a drugged lipstick to her lips and it rendered Reynolds unconscious.[1]

Once Reynolds was out, Saffron proceeded to attempt to do the same to Hoban Washburne, the pilot of Serenity. Washburne, out of respect for his marriage to fellow crew member Zoë Alleyne Washburne, refused her offer. Saffron proceeded to attack Hoban, and knock him unconscious, before changing the course of Serenity so that it could be captured and scrapped by pirates. After Saffron escaped the ship, the crewmembers of Serenity managed to rectify the course of the ship, and avoid death. They were then able to track Saffron to a snowy world, given the limited distance the shuttle she stole could travel. Mal wrestled with her in her cabin before having her pinned, where she proceeded to tempt and tease him. He tried to pry her name out of her but when she became unresponsive, he knocked her out.[1]

Some time after her "marriage" to Reynolds, Saffron assumed the alias Bridget, and married a smuggler and friend of Reynolds named Monty. Having been married for some months, when Monty met with Malcolm Reynolds, he introduced her as his "wife". Reynolds, recognizing Bridget, drew a weapon on her, and Saffron did the same. After Monty had negotiated a temporary ceasefire, Reynolds proved that Saffron was not Monty's wife, causing Monty to abandon Saffron with Reynolds.[2]

Although Reynolds was loath to allow Saffron to live, Saffron persuaded him that she knew vital information to a prospective robbery that would see all participants gain a large amount of reward. Although Reynolds and the crew did not entirely trust her, Saffron persuaded them to accept her plan. Unbeknownst to Saffron, Reynolds has a crewmember and Companion, Inara Serra, secretly arrive at the rendezvous point for the mission in advance, in case Saffron betrayed Reynolds.[2]

Entering the house of her former husband Durran Haymer, Reynolds and Saffron sought to find a priceless Lassiter laser pistol antique from Haymer's collection. When they found the pistol, Haymer discovered the pair, and appeared to be overjoyed at the return of his "wife". Saffron, posing as if she had been kidnapped, continued the false tale, before eventually admitting a variant of the truth. Haymer, who revealed that he had called the Federal Marshals of the Alliance to arrest the pair, was incapacitated by Saffron after revealing this. Saffron and Reynolds escaped by fighting their way through numerous Federal Marshals, and dropping the pistol into the garbage disposal unit, which had been re-programmed by the crew of Serenity to drop off its cargo in the desert.[2]

On the way to the desert, Saffron fooled Reynolds into believing she was genuinely upset and stole his pistol. Holding him at gunpoint, Saffron made Reynolds undress and abandoned him in the desert naked. Proceeding to the rendezvous point, Saffron encountered Inara, who already had the pistol. Inara trapped Saffron in the trash bin before leaving to rescue Reynolds, and Saffron was left to await the Federal Marshals proceeding to the location.[2]

Saffron's real name is unknown to the Serenity crew: she poses as "Bridget" for Mal's smuggler friend Monty, and as "Yolanda" to Durran Haymer, the wealthy owner of the Lassiter antique; both of whom had also married her. Mal quips on this name confusion by calling her "Yo-Saff-Bridge". Mal refers to Durran as her "real" husband, in that Durran is the only one of her husbands she seems to have genuine feelings for and regrets having lied to.[2]

According to Inara Serra, Saffron had some Companion's Guild training. This organization of legal, high-society courtesans provided its members with psychological education to enable them to establish more than a merely sexual relationship with their clients. Saffron uses these skills to help her seduce her marks, even attempting to seduce Inara herself.[1]

Both Reynolds and Durran suspect Saffron is mentally unbalanced, because she reverts to feminine wiles when caught or trapped. This usually follows events of aggression or utter contempt for her victims. Her continued survival suggested that this was usually a successful strategy. She seemed unable to trust anyone, telling Mal that everyone plays everybody else.[1]

From a strict technical standpoint, Mal may indeed be legally married to Saffron. However, as Mal himself points out in "Trash", Saffron has pulled the same con on so many men that she is in all likelihood "married" to several dozen different men at the same time. He therefore doesn't personally consider it legally binding.